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The Student and Man with a Rosary
More than a hundred years ago, a man traveling in a train found himself seated next to someone who appeared to be a wealthy peasant with a rosary in his hands. “Sir,” the student addressed the old man, “do you still believe that old stud?”
“Yes,” the other replied, “I certainly do. What about you?”
The student burst out laughing. “I don’t believe that silly twattle. Follow my advice: throw your rosary out the window and learn what science has to say about it.”
“Science? … Maybe you could explain it to me?” replied the man humbly, tears welling in his eyes.
The student noticed the emotion on the face of his traveling companion and, to avoid hurting his feelings further, told him: “Please give me your address. I will send you some information.”
Then, glancing at the business card the man had taken out of his inside pocket, the young man fell silent. The card read: Louis Pasteur, Director, Science Research Institute, Paris
1 comment:
The scientific biographies that I have scanned through treat his faith as an abberation, a deplorable weakness in an otherwise stout man of science. Louis Pasteur was the greatest of scientists, the man whose achievements brought the science of biology to the notice of the common man, the industrialists and the politicians. Yet, since he wasn't a materialist of the Darwinian stripe he is not treated with the same fawning adulation as Darwin. The same publishing industry that gave us all kinds of trivia on Darwin over the last two years, Darwin the agnostic, Darwin the abolitionist(!!), the voyages of Darwin( he was simply a guest of the captain), Darwin as the sage Victorian along with so many other forgetable books, that same publishers couldn't find anyone to write a classy book on Louis Pasteur, whose chain of discoveries is as responsible as any other factor for the disease free age we live in.
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